The Kessel Run
by WillSherJohnKhan
Summary: A Star Wars inspired story. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are posing as spice smugglers.
1. Nothing But Bad Luck

A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away…

MILLENIUM FALCON - COCKPIT

Sherlock Holmes stormed into the relative sanctuary of the cockpit and slung himself into the pilot's seat, where he sat glaring at nothing in particular. By the time his friend and colleague John Watson had joined him, he was in full sulk mode.

They were on a case that had required them to go undercover as smugglers, Captain Will Scott and his First Mate, Hamish Turner. From the moment they'd accepted the assignment it appeared that the whole bloody galaxy was determined to do everything in its power to confound and annoy him.

His attire was a case in point.

It consisted of a simple, cream-coloured long sleeved shirt made of a cheap, scratchy material, while the black sleeveless jacket was made of a course, heavy fabric. They were at least practical, and enhanced the image that he was a smuggler down on his luck, the type willing to take on unsavoury, if somewhat dangerous jobs as long as they paid well.

But then there were the trousers…

They were brown, with yellow stitching that ran the length of the seam down both legs, extremely tight fitting and made of a material that seemed determined to cling suggestively to certain parts of his anatomy. While around his waist and the upper thigh of his right leg was strapped a holster that only further enhanced the emphasis on these particular attributes. Knee-high black boots completed his ensemble.

Sherlock was by no means ashamed of his figure, and was not above using it with a little charm to get anything he needed. But his current dress code had led to a number of embarrassing incidents with certain females, both humanoid and alien who inhabited the Outer Rim Systems that he and John found themselves having to frequent.

He shuddered just thinking about it.

Then there was the ship they'd…acquired.

It had been clear just from looking at the state of the YT-1300 Freighter that it wasn't worth the credits being asked for it. But they were desperate to get their investigation underway.

Sure enough as soon as they'd left the saleyard things had started to go wrong. The hyperdrive motivator was constantly malfunctioning. Not an advantage if you needed to make a speedy exit.

It was clear they'd been swindled. They'd been blindsided by the sales pitch, the reputation this particular freighter had apparently gained over the years.

"It made the Kessel Run in less than 12 par-secs…" Sherlock quoted the salesmen under his breath before snorting in disgust, annoyed with himself that they'd been so easily taken in.

"Might I remind you," John broke through his brooding thoughts. "The salesmen also referred to it as 'the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy'. So it wasn't like we weren't warned…."

Truth be told, his outfit and the ship were not the true source of Sherlock's current bad mood.

And both he and John knew it.

Sherlock was in a strop because of their passengers whom they'd been forced to reluctantly rescue from their stranded vessel.

"They're bad luck," Sherlock sniped defensively, scowling when John openly laughed at him.

"All this," John chortled, indicating Sherlock and his current foul temper. "Because they're female!"


	2. Damsels in Distress

TANTIVE IV – 2 HOURS EARLIER

The galactic cruiser floated aimlessly, adrift in space.

The captain they'd hired had clearly been made a better offer, or more likely through a combination of fear and intimidation been forced to betray them.

As soon as they'd come out of lightspeed, the Captain and his crew had abandoned ship. Before doing so, they had compromised the ships operating systems, leaving all instruments completely inoperable. Their sabotage was complete when they jettisoned all the escape pods, not just the ones they'd commandeered.

That left the two female passengers stranded.

Molly Hooper was a member of the Rebel Alliance. She gazed at the myriad of stars that twinkled all around them, at any moment she expected to see through the view-screen the ominous vision of an Imperial Star Destroyer bearing down on them.

When that happened, she knew the game would be up, and she would have failed in her mission.

From the bowels of the ship came a muffled request. "Could you pass me the hydro-spanner?"

When no response came, and the required instrument was not given, grumbling could be heard and then the face of a young woman with short blonde hair appeared in the opening in the floor. Looking around she spotted her companion. "Molly did you hear me? I need the hydro-spanner."

Molly instantly rushed to the toolbox and after a quick search found the requested item which she promptly brought over. "How bad is it?" she asked, though she had a bad feeling she knew what Mary's response would be.

She didn't disappoint. "I'd like to say we've been in tougher situations than this. But I would be lying," she replied before disappearing back down the way she'd come.

An hour later it was clear the sabotage performed had been absolute. It would take a complete overhaul from trained technicians to get the ship up and running.

The two women sat dejectedly in the cockpit.

"How long before you think they'll arrive?" Molly asked. It was clear that it was now more a case of when rather than if.

"Not long," Mary admitted, handing Molly a blaster. "But I refuse to go down without a fight."

At that moment a proximity alarm went off, both women exchanged knowing looks. This was it.

But when the ship emerged back into real space, it wasn't what they were expecting.

After the YT-1300 Freighter manoeuvred alongside, a maintenance docking clamp securely locked the two ships together. Access between the two ships was now possible.

Molly and Mary waited anxiously, their blasters drawn as the exterior door lock opened.

What was revealed had Molly catching her breath. The tall man standing before her had a head of messy dark curls, blue/green eyes she could willingly lose herself in, chiselled cheekbones and delectable cupid bow lips. His body was slender, but it was clear from the way his shirt was stretched to bursting that the chest was well defined, muscular…

She was rudely brought back to the present when the man snapped impatiently. "If you could possibly refrain from stripping me naked with your eyes long enough to hurry aboard. We're in a bit of a rush."


	3. Political Intrigue

IMPERIAL CENTER – SENATE DISTRICT

A man dressed in the uniform of a Grand Moff made his way through the teeming streets of the city world that was formally known as Coruscant.

As he made his way along he was constantly forced to side-step the piles of rubble that still littered the walkways months after the statue of Emperor Palpatine had been successfully toppled. This magnificent feat had been achieved by the citizens of the city's Alien Protection Zone, who upon hearing of the Empire's many defeats at the hands of the Rebel Alliance, including the destruction of a second Death Star, and the confirmed deaths of Lord Vader, and the Emperor himself, had defied Imperial Security Forces, by clambering over the despised high walls to make their way to the statue, where they eagerly used any means possible to bring it crashing down.

This show of rebellion was swiftly dealt with, though the punishments metered out were far less harsh than they could have otherwise been.

This was due entirely to the fact that from that moment on, the usual order and efficiency that the Empire had always prided itself on was itself now under attack. The city as a whole, and in many of the Empire's former strongholds were all now in uproar.

Without their leader and his lieutenants order broke down, to be replaced by chaos. The show of strength that the Empire had wielded for so long was severely weakened, and cracks soon turned into gaping holes.

As was usual in such cases there were any number of wanna be tin pot leaders all vying to gain support from those still loyal to the Empire, and all that it stood for.

Out of all that threw their hats into the ring, there was a group of three that had banded together, feeling they had a better chance of winning together, than individually. They were known as MMM – Moriarty, Magnussen and Moran

And it was this alliance the man dressed as a Grand Moff was duty bound to undermine.

In fact, Mycroft Holmes did indeed hold the position of Grand Moff, having successfully manoeuvred himself into the position by means of gaining the respect of several notable lackey's of the Emperor's inner circle.

But had they been half as clever as they believed themselves and their intelligence gathering agencies to be, they would have discovered that the tactical brilliance and cunning that he had been credited with were in fact the accolades attributed to another. An exceptional mind to be sure, but one that had grown over confident with his abilities, and as such he had failed to note a fatal flaw in one of his strategic battle plans. The end result seeing him and his crew pay the ultimate price.

The role of a double-agent was a precarious one, but Mycroft was prepared to do his part to ensure that the Empire did not regain its former strength.

To that end, he was on his way to a meeting with Seb Moran. His task was to plant a little poison in the form of a seed of doubt over the trustworthiness of Moriarty and Magnussen.

So while Sherlock went undercover to recover vital data that would bring the remnants of the Empire to its knees, Mycroft needed to ensure MMM remained distracted by internal issues.


End file.
